reviews and experiences on planes and destinations as I travel travel through the world ----- twitter: https://twitter.com/0504Traveller ------ TripAdvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/0504Traveller

Friday, June 26, 2015

In the last couple of years, Turkish
Airlines has been winning a lot of awards for their service and product.
They seem to be doing this while still providing a competitive rate, so I
was curious to experience the service myself. After flying both Business
as well as Economy class, I am not sure why the airline won all the awards --
while the product is decent and I have definitely experienced worst, I have
also experienced better.

I was flying from the U.S. to Switzerland
and Turkish Airlines was providing a very good deal from Houston to Zurich via
Istanbul. For another family member, we had previously booked a Turkish
Airlines flight through a travel agent and it was difficult to manage the
booking on the Turkish Airlines website, so this time we decided to book
directly through Turkish Airlines website. The website does provide good
deals and options pre-booking and during booking, but it is not good post
booking or managing the booking. Seat assignments, for example must be
confirmed by calling the airline - however if you book too far in advance than
the airplane has not been confirmed for your flight so you are not able to book
your seat. There were other instances like this which does not make the
site very user-friendly (as opposed to Qatar and other airlines which are more
user-friendly).

Another thing that you cannot do from this
site - and I found this with other Star Alliance partners such as Ethiopian -
is that they do not provide connections with Star Alliance partners such as
United. If wanted to book a United flight connecting to a Turkish flight,
I am not able to do that on Turkish. I would either have to book separate
tickets or use a third party (the same thing for Ethiopian flights). If
you are in an Alliance, shouldn't you be able to book one ticket on multiple
partners? Oneworld and Skyteam do not seem to have this issue as you can
book multiple partners through each site.

I got to experience both Business as well
as Economy class on Turkish. My original ticket was in Economy class but
you are able to upgrade to Business Class at the counter, if space is
available. NOTE: if you are travelling on more than one sector, the
upgrade is only valid on the first sector. We were travelling from
Houston to Istanbul and then from Istanbul to Zurich so the upgrade was only
applicable from Houston to Istanbul. In Houston, Turkish partners with
Star Alliance member so you have access to the United Club; in Istanbul we
would be back to economy so would not have access to the lounge. Given
all this, is it worth to upgrade? That really depends on what you value.

We were flying on a Boeing 777 and the Business
class is laid out in a 2-2-2 section. The positive is that the seats do
turn into completely lie-flat beds and there is a massage button to help ease
the long flight. They also do feed you a lot in Business class, with many
courses and their advertised ‘Chef on Board’.
The food was good, not great, but good and they did provide a lot of
it. One thing to note was that the
flight attendants never explained what any of the dishes were and, when asked,
could not provide the answer as to what was being served. Every time I asked for an explanation of the
dish they had to run back to the galley to get the answer. That was a negative in my opinion. Other negatives were that the service in
Business wasn't that good, there is very little privacy between you and your
seatmate, and the beds are not that comfortable. Additionally, the
amenity kit in Business is the same one that was received in Economy. Finally,
the IFE is wider in Business class but they have less selection (overall the
selection wasn’t that good, but it was worse in Business Class). Given we
were fed well and were able to rest, we did not feel as tired when we landed in
Istanbul at 12 hours so in that aspect it was worth it, but given the lack of
service and the other negatives we decided not to upgrade on the return flight
(more about that later).

Just a note about the Club at IAH: Turkish does
not have its own club so it partners with fellow Star Alliance member United
and uses the United Club. The United Club is nice but the Club it is nowhere
near the Turkish gate. Turkish departs
out of D gates and the closest Club location is in E gates – about a 15 minute
fast walk or a 20 minute slow walk. As
it is a United Club, there are no announcements of the Turkish flight so you
have to guess and estimate the time.

We transferred in Istanbul to our flight to
Zurich. Istanbul airport is nice, but
very crowded and very long – there are long walks between gates and when
transferring from one gate to another.
Additionally you have to go through security even when transferring as
well as go through a boarding pass check.
Given the immense crowds, seating space is a commodity especially since
the gates are only announced about an 1.5 hour prior to the flight.

The flight from Istanbul to Zurich was on
an Airbus A320 with a 3-3 seat layout.
The seat pitch on the flight was very generous providing plenty of
legroom. There were no personal IFE and
only the flight route was shown on the overhead screens. The service on the plane was decent with a
meal and drinks being provided; however given the 3.5 hour flight time some
sort of entertainment - either personal or on the screen above) would have been
better.

The return flight from Zurich to Istanbul
was on the same type of aircraft and the service was the same (which was decent). Transferring in Istanbul was a bit chaotic,
especially for the flights to the U.S.
The plane was not parked at the gate so we had to take a bus to the
plane. It was a full flight with over
300+ passengers but the waiting area was so small and compact, with only 6
chairs and no food/beverage services.
Prior to the waiting area, you had to go through 3 security checkpoints
so it was becoming very crowded, very quickly.
Given the crowded situation, Turkish opened the gate early and we were
allowed to board earlier than scheduled.

The flight from Istanbul to Houston was
operated by a Boeing 777 and this time we were in economy. The seat pitch was extremely tight – there was
barely any room to sit no matter what your height was. The seats were also uncomfortable and so it
made for a very uncomfortable 12+ hour flight.
The service included a meal upon takeoff, tea, distribution of amenity
kit (which was the exact same one we received in Business Class on the
departure trip) as well as a meal upon landing.
In addition, there were snacks and drinks available in the galley. The service was decent, the only problem I
had was that 30 minutes after take-off three bathrooms on one side of the plane
ran out of soap. I am not sure whether
soap was not filled initially or too many people used it, but instead of
refilling the soap or apologizing for that, the attendants’ response was ‘just
use another one’. It was this lackluster
response that was indicative of their service throughout all the flights we
took, and it was this lackluster response which did not make the flight
enjoyable. The seats did have a person
IFE as well as USB port to charge your electronics. The IFE in economy had a better selection of
movies than business class, but the selection was not as up to date nor as vast
as other airlines (including the US, Emirates, etc.). The movie selection was enough to pass 12
hours but not enough to come back to the airline.

In the end, I neither had a positive nor
negative experience on Turkish.
Everything was basic but there was not enough to make me want to repeat
my travel with Turkish, and that is the sad point. I have had experiences on other airlines that
were decent but one thing stood out – either the service or the planes or the
efficiency – which made me want to try them again, or not. This was not the case with Turkish. They keep stating they are winning all these
awards, and after flying with them, I am trying to figure out why

Monday, June 22, 2015

Travelling around Switzerland is very easy and
convenient given how well connected and smooth the trains, trams, and other
public transportation run. Given this
convenience, it is difficult to see why a passenger would fly across
Switzerland, until they experience Swiss International Airlines’ great service
and free chocolates!

We were visiting Switzerland and had traveled from Zurich to
Geneva via train. This journey took 2.5
hours and it was very convenient to go from the downtown Zurich to downtown
Geneva. On the return, we decided to
fly and we choose this option for a couple of reasons: 1) We wanted to try out
Swiss as we had heard good things about the airline; 2) the price for the
ticket was relatively comparable and included luggage; and 3) we were arriving
late night and then heading out via plane early the next morning so going via
train would have cost an extra journey. Overall, the return journey only took about
30 minutes of actual flight time. I had booked my trip through an online site as purchasing
directly through Swiss – for an internal flight – would have incurred a
currency conversion fee whereas the online site was booked in my home
currency. The flight price included
luggage – a bag of 23kg – but did not include seat assignments as pre-selected
seat assignments came with a cost. Not-preselecting
seats is a gamble as sometimes the plane is empty or you are assigned the exit
seat, while other times the plane is completely full and the only remaining
seats are the ones in the middle in the back of the plane.

24-hours prior to my departure I was able to check-in online
and receive my seat assignment. Online
there were plenty of seats to choose from as the flight did not look that full
so we were able to select the seats we wanted (at no cost). When we arrived at the Geneva airport, we
presented our already printed boarding passes and passport to the desk and everything
was done in less than 5 minutes. As we
had planned for a longer time, we had more time to explore Geneva Airport.The airport is divided into pre-security and
post-security. There is free wifi (as is
the case around the country, you receive the wifi code via SMS/text message so
you need a text enabled phone to receive the code) and the wifi was pretty
good. There is no map of the airport but
talking to the airport personnel, they informed me that there were more options
pre-security than post. Pre-security
has a coffee shop (with sandwiches and pastries); a bookstore; a make your own
salad; some shops; as well as a an area with about 4 restaurants and plenty of
spaces to sit. There is even a place to
sit outside and see views of the runway.
The restaurants available provide a varied selection from fast food to
sit down and near the seating they have screens with up-to-date flight information.

Going through the security was also quick and took less than
15 minutes. Post-security are the duty
free shops, a coffee shop, a chocolate shop, sandwich shops, as well as bookstores
and other standard airport stores. While
the availability is there, there was definitely more variety pre-security. The airport has large windows that face the
taxi and runway so you do a lot of plane-spotting. You cannot take pictures as the windows have
tiny dots on them that inhibit picture taking.

Our flight was in the evening and promptly on time we
boarded. Boarding was completed
relatively easily as there only 30 passengers total (so each passenger had a
row to themselves). The seats of the
Airbus plane were comfortable leather seats and the legroom was decent for a
small flight – the legroom would be tight for a long-haul flight but decent for
a short-haul flight. As soon as we
reached cruising altitude, we were served a bottle of water (standard size,
which was nice) as well as swiss chocolates.
Originally two were given per passengers but if more were requested you
could take as much as you want. Both the
chocolates and free water were a welcome addition, on any flight but especially
on such a short flight. The plane did
not have individual IFE’s but rather had overhead screens which showed the
progression of the flight. We landed in
Zurich on time and proceeded to receive our luggage, which also came rather
quickly.

If I was to compare the rail versus plane journey, they both
took about the same amount of time if you factor in security and other time for
the airport. Another thing to consider
that if you purchased the Swiss pass (which includes rail journeys), and still
had some journeys remaining then the plane was an additional cost. Both provided a comfortable seat and a
pleasant journey so which one is better – it really depends on your destination
and where you would like to final destination to be. If you want to be closer to downtown without having
the extra train connection between the airport and the city, then I would suggest
the train. If you want to be closer to
the airport without having to transfer at the main rail station, then I would suggest
the plane. We wanted to be closer to the
airport (as we had an early morning flight the next day) and did not want to
transfer so for us the plane ride was nice and pleasant. Definitely worth a trip on Swiss!